‘hundreds Of Children, Women Missing In Balochistan’ Shahid Husain

As many as 14,362 people, including 150 women, have “disappeared” in Balochistan since 2001, and 370 mutilated bodies have been found in different parts of the volatile province so far.

As many as 14,362 people, including 150 women, have “disappeared” in Balochistan since 2001, and 370 mutilated bodies have been found in different parts of the volatile province so far.

The News learnt of these statistics from Qadeer Baloch, vice president of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, on Monday.

Sitting in a camp in front of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) since January 1 to protest against the “disappearances” of Baloch people, Qadeer said about 250,000 people from Marri and Bugti areas had migrated to other provinces and even to Afghanistan since their lives were in danger.

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons has so far organised three protest camps outside the KPC, two in Islamabad and several in Quetta.

“Zarina Baloch, a young woman, along with her two-year-old child, disappeared in Kohlu in the Marri area in 2006,” Qadeer said. “She was a schoolteacher in Kohlu,” he said.

“The precarious situation in Balochistan can be gauged from the fact that along with adults, 169 children are also missing,” Qadeer said.

Speaking at a news conference on International Human Rights Day at the KPC, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Zohra Yusuf had said the establishment saw the problem of Balochistan as a “security issue” but it would not be fair to say it wanted to get rid of Balochistan. However, she went on to say that the government in Balochistan was ineffective.

HRCP figures about “missing” people were conservative as compared to claims made by Baloch nationalists.

Yusuf said Baloch nationalists claimed that 5,000-7,000 people were “missing” in Balochistan, but HRCP figures were more conservative.

“It is a matter of grave alarm that 107 new cases of enforced disappearance have been reported in Balochistan in 2011, and the ‘missing persons’ are increasingly turning up dead,” she said.

“There are certain areas in Balochistan where neither human rights activists nor journalists can go,” says veteran journalist and columnist Ghazi Salahuddin.

Recent evidence shows that “truth serum” was also being used by intelligence agencies to extract information.

Psychiatrists confirm that when this chemical is injected, one starts speaking but

forgets what he has uttered after she/he regains consciousness.

Balochistan not only happens to be the largest province of Pakistan in terms of area with sparse population, but is very rich in natural and mineral resources. It has a 1,200 long coastline and is strategically located – being the gateway to the Central Asian Republics.